Tulsa Drillers Open Series with Win

The Drillers built an early lead and held off a Midland RockHounds comeback.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:54 am

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Aug 11, 2010 11:18 PM CDT

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

MIDLAND, Texas -- After taking a day off to travel, the Tulsa Drillers jumped out to an early lead and topped the Midland RockHounds 9-4 Wednesday.

The Drillers (54-60) jumped out to an early lead with two RBI singles in the second inning. Three at-bats into the second, Hector Gomez singled to left field to score Jordan Pacheco. Two outs later, Anthony Jackson singled to right to score Gomez and Jeff Kindel to take a 3-0 lead.

Tulsa added another run on a wild pitch by Midland (58-57) starter Jeff Lyman to bring Gomez home from third.

Another pair of RBI singles – including another two-run single by Jackson – to extend the lead to 7-0.

Midland broke the shutout in the bottom of the sixth with a Val Majewski two-run single to center field. In the next at-bat, Alex Valdez homered to right field to score two and close the gap to 7-4, but Tulsa responded in the next half-inning to add some insurance.

With two outs on the board, Bronson Sardinha singled to center field to bring Warren Schaeffer home and take a four-run lead. A Charles Blackmon RBI triple in the top of the ninth pushed the lead to 9-4 and closed the door on a comeback.

Lyman (0-4) remained winless for the RockHounds after allowing four earned runs on seven hits in his four innings of service. Greg Reynolds (5-4) received a win for his five-inning outing after allowing just two hits.

The three-game series continues at 7 p.m. Thursday at Citibank Park.